Card for punched-card accounting machines



Patented Aug. 5, 1941 CARD FOR PUNCHED-CARD ACCOUNTING MACHHWES Renzo Aldo Artana, Turin, Italy Application November 2, 1938, Serial No. 238,494 In Italy May 7, 1938 (Cl. 235-6L12) 2 Claims.

It is known to employ special machines which enable records to be made on cards, by punching, of certain data which other machines forming part of the same plant interpret and, if desired, reproduce in written form, gathering from the card figures or alphabetical indications, the figures being eventually totalled etc., the whole of the operations being performed mechanically.

The cards used with these machines must answer, for the regular operation of the system, to certain particular requirements, not only in the accuracy of their dimensions, but also as regards their strength and elasticity, miformity of their consistence and of thickness, electrical insulation properties, unalterableness under the hy-- grometrical variations of the atmosphere, etc., so that their manufacture is not only diflicult, but also of comparatively very high cost. Further, it must be remembered that such cards are used in mechanical accounting and tabulating plants of the type just described, in enormous quantities, in millions, since as is obvious such machines are essentiallyemployed by companies or corporations controlling vast numbers of names.

It is therefore a problem of the greatest importance, from an economical point of view, to substantially reduce the necessary consumption of the said cards.

It is known that these cards, as heretofore made and used, are only utilisable once, that is, they can be punched once only with the data it is desired to record on them. The card thus punched can be passed practically an unlimited number of times through the sorting, tabulating, etc. machines for classifying, gathering and eventually totalling the data stored in it but, when the card is no longer required, i. e. when the subject matter of it is eliminated from the files, it becomes perfectly useless and can only be disposed of as waste paper.

My present invention relates to a new type of card, such as can be used, successively, twice, the same card being capable of receiving a, first punching (and being used with that punching as long as the concerned data is needful) and successively; when the card, as far as the first punching is concerned, is discarded, a second punching, like a new card, and being used as long as may be necessary with this second punching. The invention further relates to a process of transformation (regeneration) of used cards of the type at present in use, by which they are put into condition for use a second time.

My invention will be described more fully with reference to the attached drawing, Wherein Fig. 1 shows a card of the standard type at present in use, and Figs. 2 to 4 show, partially, cards embodying the various features provided for by the invention.

Fig. 1 illustrates a card such as are at present in use. The cards used heretofore in the various known systems of machines are all identical in size, rectangular, with edges measuring 187.3 x 82.6 mm. and with the upper left corner cut away. On one side they have printed a certain number of vertical columns of "positions," for example 45 or columns, and each column comprises 12 positions, ten of which are numbered from 0 to 9, Whilst on top a space equal to two positions is left blank. The positions available in this space are indicated, in the drawing, by small crosses. The dimensions and the other data of the above mentioned cards are standard features' in all the systems so far known, and have been cited for the sake of greater clearness and simplicity of reference; nevertheless it must be understood that' the invention may be applied to cards of any size and with any number of columns and positions whatsoever.

The punching positions are located in such a' manner that the distance between two successive positions in the same vertical column is slightly greater than twice the Vertical dimension of the holes (circulanor rectangular) and that is, that between two successive holes in the same vertical column there is room enough for another hole. Some circular perforations are shown on Fig. 1 in various positions, at a, a. In going through the different machines, be they punching machines, sorters or tabulators, for the sorting out' or the gathering of the data recorded on them etc., the cards are either guided by one of their long edges contacting with a suitable guide or stop member, such as in the Powers type, or again one of their long edges, the trailing edge, acted upon by a card picker such as in the Hollerith type. ing positions is exactly centred with reference to the two long edges of the card. so that it does not.

matter which of them is placed against the guide or stop member or is acted upon by the card picker. The distance between the top and bottom horizontal lines of positions and the adjacent long edge of the card is marked, on the figure, with h.

My invention is based on the utilisation of the spaces between the horizontal lines of punching positions in order to make the card utilisable two tim s successively- However the field of all the punch- For this purpose, according to my Invention, there is printed on each of the two sides of the card a field of positions, and each of these fields is arranged, not, as on the cards at present in use, centred, with reference to the long edges. but so. arranged that the distances between the last, upper and lower lines of positions and the long edge nearest to each of them, respectively, difler by a distance equal to half the distance between two successive horizontal lines of positions. The fleld of positions on each of the sides may have, for instance, the normal distance it has in the cards as at present in use, with respect to one of the long edges, and have a smaller distance with regard to the other long edge. According to the present invention it is contemplated to maintain unchanged the distance between the rows of index points and the controlling edge and to change the width of the card. A card thus made is shown, partially, on Fig. 2, where the normal distance h, between the upper row of positions and the adjacent long edge B of the card, and the distance h (less than h by the said amount) between the lower row of positions and the corresponding edge A are made evident. As will be observed, the fields of positions are arranged in opposite ways on the two sides of the card, with regard to the long edges, that is, one of them, pertaining to one of the sides (F'ig. 2), is nearer the edge A, and the other, pertaining to the other side (Fig. 3) is nearer the edge B. The printing on the second side of the card is reversed, from top to bottom, with regard to the other, and the cut-away corner is with respect to it the lower instead of the upper left one. a

The card according to my invention will be used as follows.

For the flrst using the card will be placed in the punching machine so as to be guided by its edge B, having the normal distance between it and the field of positions printed on the side to be used first (for example, the side having the cutaway left corner at the top), and the desired perforations will be punched in this position, so that they will coincide with the positions printed on that side. The card can then be used as long as desired, in the usual way.

For the second using, that is, when the card is no longer useful with the first set of punchings, the same card is placed in the punching machine upside down, so as to offer the second printed side for use, and to be guided by its second edge, that is the edge A, opposite to the edge used for the first punching, which second edge, with regard to the second printed side, presents in its turn the normal distance from the positions. The perforations will then fall in line with the positions printed on the second side of the card and, as is obvious, taking into account the displacement between the positions printed on each side of the card, on horizontal lines situated half way between the horizontal lines on which the punchings were made with reference to the first side of the card. The card can then be used a second time in a manner identical with the first one. On Fig. 3 there are shown, at b, b, some perforations made when using the card for the second time, whilst perforations a, a due to the rst use of the card are also to be seen.

Exhaustive tests have shown'that the double punching of the cards does not excessively weaken their mechanical strength, inasmuch as the perforations never run one into another. It

must further be borne in mind that the number of perforations punched in a card is usualiy very small as compared with the total number of positions, so that practically the holes of the second punching will as often as not fall between positions which have not been punched in the first using.

In order to use the new type of card, it will only be necessary to set the feed mechanism of the different machines to allow the passage of cards which may be of a different size from the standard ones; for machines working exclusively by electric contacts, it will also be necessary to set the electrical apparatus in order to get an` exact reading of the punchings.

To facilitate and quicken up the reading by sight, from the operator, of the perforations punched in the second use of the card, which perforations may be between adjacent holes pertaining to the first punching, the positions printed on the second side of the card can be suitably distinguished. For instance, each position can be surrounded by a circle or a rectangle of a slightly larger size than the perforation, so that after punching each perforation will appear surrounded by a border which will bring it at once to the notice of the operator, distinguishing said perforation from those pertaining to the first use of the card (punched with regard to the positions on the opposite side). Fig. 4 shows a portion of the second side of a card provided with such distinguishing marks, and here it is easy to see that the holes b, b concerning the second use are readily picked out from those a, a pertaining to the previous use of the card.

My invention can further be applied, as has already been mentioned. for transforming (regenerating) cards of the type at present in use, after use, so as to put them in a condition to be used a second time. For this purpose, it will be sufiicient, on the same principle as just described, to cut off along one of the long edges of the card a strip of a width equal to half the vertical distance between two successive horizontal rows of positions, and to print on the opposite side of the card, at a normal distance from the edge from which the strip has been cut, a new field of positions. In practice, in regenerating cards which have been run through the various machines a great number of times, it may be convenient to trim also that edge of the cardwhich would not require alteration, trimming away a thin strip so as to take off the wear that may show on the edge. edge to be trimmed up a very narrow strip, of a width corresponding to a fraction of the width of the strip to be taken from the other edge, for instance V of such width, taking then oil' the other edge a strip of correspondingly reduced width, for instance, in this case, of the said width.

I claim:

1. A method' for preparing cards of the type heretofore in use for punched-card accounting and tabulating machines, by transforming said cards into cards capable of being used a second time, which method comprises cutting away along one of the long edges of the card a strip having a width equal to half the distance between two horizontal rows of positions whereby a new field of positions having the normal distance from the edge from which the said strip has been cut away will be available.

2. A method for regenerating used cards for punched-card accounting and tabulating ma- This is possible by cutting off from the 1 chines, of the type heretofore in use, by transwidth equal to half the distance between two forming said cards into cards capable of being horzontal rows of positions less the width of the used a second time, which method comprises said narrow strip, whereby a new field of positrimming off a very narrow strip along one of the tions having the normal distance from the said long edges of the card, cutting away along the 5 second long edge of the card will be available. second long edge of the card a strip having a RENZO ALDO ARTANA. 

